Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-23

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people think that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. Others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Nowadays, few people belive that competition at work, schools and regular life should be encouraged whereas others think that working through cooperation is a better approach. Personally, I support the later view, but I have discussed both the angles in my essay.

Firstly, some individuals believe that competition helps in making improvements in ones life. For instance, people argue that if competition is encouraged among children in school for test scores, by providing high achievers with medals or appreciation so that can incentivise other kids in schools to do the same or higher level of hardwork as done by high achievers. As a result, not only the students will be focusing more on their academics but are aslo likely to perform better to achieve their goals.

On the other hand, cooperation is thought to bring in more efficiency at workplaces. For instance, if an organization has cooperative way of working, so they are more likely to from teams which could have staff members with different level of experience. For this reason, a team can have both senior level of employees as well as new entrants; therefore, senior members in the group can assist their junior team members in getting complex tasks done, which eventually can reduce wastage of time and funds at those organizations. This way firm's operating expenditures can reduce and they can potentially achieve their preset goals with better financial returns.

In my opinion, although competition can encourage hardwork and could improve individual level performances, but for a larger impact cooperative approach is usually successful. Since, in practical world it is not the individual performances that serves to accomplish larger aims, but it is cooperative team culture in firms that help achieve them.

To conclude, I support the cooperative way of working over the competitive one, given that teams formed are effectively managed within organizations.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both sides of the question and state a clear preference for cooperation in the introduction, body and conclusion. The examples are relevant: school rewards are used to explain how competition may motivate pupils, while experienced and junior employees illustrate how teamwork can improve efficiency. This meets the task well, and the explanation of workplace cooperation is comparatively developed. However, the case for competition is narrower, focusing mainly on test scores and individual effort, and the essay says little about competition in daily life. Your own view is clear, but the claim that cooperation has a “larger impact” would be stronger with a specific example or fuller explanation of when cooperation is more effective. More balanced development would strengthen the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The essay has a clear, effective structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, a paragraph giving your opinion, and a conclusion. The progression is easy to follow, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” help readers identify each stage of the argument. You also use cause-and-effect links, including “For this reason” and “As a result,” to connect examples with their consequences. At times, however, linking becomes mechanical or the relationship is awkwardly expressed, as in “if an organization has a cooperative way of working, so they are more likely to form teams.” The final opinion paragraph also repeats the preference already stated. Use more varied, precise transitions and make references between sentences clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “high achievers,” “senior members,” “complex tasks,” and “operating expenditures.” These choices help explain the examples and show attempts to use more specific language than basic everyday terms. However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “regular life,” “working through cooperation,” and “preset goals.” There are also spelling errors, including “belive,” “aslo,” and “hardwork,” which reduce the accuracy of the vocabulary. Some phrases are unnecessarily wordy, particularly “different level of experience.” Aim for more natural collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully; this would make your meaning more precise and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including conditional clauses (“if competition is encouraged”) and longer sentences explaining cause and effect. The main ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. For example, “ones life” needs a possessive apostrophe, and “so that can incentivise” is missing a subject. In “if an organization has a cooperative way of working, so they are more likely,” the conditional structure is not formed correctly. The opinion sentence beginning “although competition can encourage…” also uses “although” and “but” together, while “performances … serves” has a subject–verb agreement error. Review clause construction, agreement, articles and punctuation, then edit long sentences to ensure each clause is complete.

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